Now that he had a bit of leeway and time, Harry decided to start learning. He got started on the things he needed to catch up on like more wizarding culture, etiquette and laws. Aside from that, he began to start reading up on transfiguration books and occlumency books from the Bones library.
While he was studying, whenever he was alone with no one in the library, he recorded books as much as he could with his Focus. Everything he was allowed to touch, he recorded until all the books were now in his Focus database. The Bones library wasn't that big but from a muggle point of view, having this much was still quite impressive. Though of course this does not include Family magic or restricted books for the Bones family.
Now that he had all the books there recorded, he can start reading from wherever he was. His next target was the Black Library once he gets access.
----
Ministry of Magic
Wizengamot is in session as usual in the ministry. But today was anything but usual. Amelia was preparing to preset Sirius Black's case. This was also the day they had the papers print the Lord Black's situation. In order to make sure the Wizengamot members didn't see the papers, they asked for the issue to be released late. Not very much but just enough to let the members start before it goes out.
"Next case. Madam Bones, please go ahead." Said Cornelius Fudge.
"Of course minister. Next case, Sirius Orion Black from the Ancient and Noble house of Black." Amelia spoke firmly.
This raised a huge commotion with a lot of the members.
"What?!"
"Why are we revisiting this? He's been in Azkaban for years!"
"Why wasn't I told about this?!"
"Madam Bones, what is the meaning of this?" Fudge asked. He was very worried. For years Black had been imprisoned, he knew his current state as Fudge regularly visited him to gloat and mock him whenever he was stressed.
"House Black has hired a solicitor to represent Mr Black. Mr Andrew Holland, please go ahead." Amelia said quickly.
"Thank you Madam Bones. Witches and wizards of Wizengamot, Sirius Orion Black was imprisoned and sent to Azkaban the night of October 31st 1981. He had been found at the scene and was accused of the death of 12 muggles and one Peter Pettigrew, and accused of also betraying the Potters through giving the secret of the Fidelius Charm." Andrew began.
Several Wizangamot members tried talking but Dumbledore silenced them. Though he himself was a bit worried.
"Now to the heart of the matter. As per our wizarding laws, an accused cannot be held for more than 30 days without a formal trial." Andrew spoke clearly and firmly to get his point across.
Hearing this, more commotion broke out. It was unheard of to have anyone, least of all, a member of an Ancient and Noble house to be imprisoned without trial.
"As the ministry was indeed considered at war time during the arrest period, our laws allow for the accused to be held captive longer but cannot exceed a year, specifically six months at maximum. And it has been 4 years." Andrew paused for effect then continued. "As our laws dictate, the accused is to be officially released as no trial took place since the year allotted has passed. Magically and legally, he is not considered convicted of any crimes."
"He is clearly guilty! This cannot be allowed to happen!" Lucius Malfoy exclaimed as he sat on the seat that was supposed to be for house Black. If Black is released, he would lose his only voting rights in Wizengamot and also loose the inheritance of house Black. He had intended for it to go to his son Draco as the only heir remaining. But Sirius acquittal could see him lose that.
"He's right! We cannot allow a mass murderer go free!" Fudge tried to follow up.
Dumbledore wanted to refute as well but he does not think he has any ground he can exploit at the moment. So he merely tried to follow up Fudge concerns.
"Yes I believe the minister's concerns are sound." He said.
At this point Andrew interjected as he saw an exploitable hole.
"If you people can ignore most if not all laws in favor of purebloods, why are you not doing so now? Last I checked, Sirius Black is indeed a pureblood and from an Ancient and most noble house of Black." This was his attempt at poking against the pureblood ideology.
"NO! This cannot be allowed! He's a criminal and a murderer!" Tried Fudge one more time.
"According to whom? The evidence that was originally gathered on record for his arrest was circumstantial at best. This would have been properly refuted or verified, had there been a trial. But there was not. So as it stands, Legally, he is in fact NOT a murderer or a criminal."
"Perhaps we should reconsider--" Dumbledore tried but Andrew cut him off.
"I'm afraid that does not matter. Our ancient laws dictate that this has to be done. The magical laws prevent this body from going against it and ignore justice directly after the case has been brought up. There is not stopping this as the situation falls under specific noted clauses. Now that it has been brought forth, going against it will see you lose your seats." Said Andrew.
Fudge tried one last time to prevent this as he knew this could hurt his career but then Andrew interjected once more.
"I also find it greatly troubling that our chief warlock can ignore such travesty of not even having a trial for a member of an Ancient and noble house when he can simply vouch for a marked death eater without so much as a fuss." Andrew added.
This got Dumbledore some attention and whispers. While Andrew can go no further with this questioning, he knew it was enough to start planting doubts against the old man.
He then took what was inside his coat and lay it in front of the court.
SIRIUS BLACK imprisoned without trial. Ministry cover up?
By Andy Smudgley
We at the Daily Prophet received anonymous letters stating that accused mass murderer Sirius Black, arrested for the death of 12 muggles and one Peter Pettigrew, attributed to have betrayed the Potters, was in fact imprisoned and had never gotten a proper trial.
It is with great displeasure for us to confirm after our own investigation that he had indeed never gotten a trial even after all these years. How can this be dear readers, when even accused death eaters still get trials and even one vouched for by Dumbledore himself yet a pureblood from the Ancent and Noble house of Black never got one?
This goes against our very wizarding laws to a right of trial. Is it possible that he is even innocent? After all, if Mr Black was guilty, would it not be easy enough to get a proper conviction of his crimes in a trial?
According to wizarding laws established since the time of Merlin, since Mr Black was not given trial within 30 days or six months if in war time, his imprisonment becomes illegal and he is declared free to go. Will the ministry of magic let him go or keep him imprisoned?
It is very troubling to consider that a member of an Ancient and noble house can be imprisoned like this. If this is the new 'process', what hope do we common witches and wizards do and hope for?
Please see page 3 for more details...
"I'm sure this has reached a lot of people by now. If you do not allow our laws to be followed, I'm certain the wizarding world will have words to say to you minister."
Fudge was stunned and unable to speak. Even his overly aggressive under secretary could not find any words since this could seriously hurt their reputations and could see them mobbed by countless wizards locally and internationally.
While the Prophet was only within Britain, several other countries still keep an eye on things in the UK despite all the rubbish being printed in the papers. So they had no choice but to let this play out.
Normally, it would be difficult to even get this published by the Prophet since Fudge usually pressures the publication to print his propaganda and lies. However, it is currently at peace time and with the Prophet not having any big news or scandals recently, they took this story to poke the hornet's nest.
"Regardless of our political or moral opinions, the moment this case was brought in front of this official Wizangamot session, our laws has forced him to be freed. But in the interest of clearing his name, the accused has agreed to be questioned under veritaserum."
"However let me reiterate that this is no longer a trial but merely a questioning. Even if the accused is or is not actually guilty, our laws have secured his freedom already." Andrew reminded them.
Amelia then had aurors bring Sirius Black in who was grinning as he finally had his moment. He knew he had paid for his failure already through the years in Azkaban.
He was brought in without any chains and was wearing a proper suit and long coat he loved wearing. He was allowed a quick shower and change of clothes right before the session.
Dumbledore was inwardly panicking. He had to prevent this, but as Sirius was already declared free, he knew he had no law he can lean on to prevent this. Even if he regularly broke several laws to suit his purposes, he cannot openly break them, least of all, in front of the Wizengamot.
After veritaserum was administered, Andrew began his questioning.
"Please state your full name".
"Sirius Orion Black."
They did several more questions to ensure the veritaserum was working.
And thus began the revelations.
"At the night of October 31st, 1981, did you betray the Potters by revealing the location as secret keeper of the Fidelius Charm?" He asked.
"No."
This alone got a few whispers already. They have not gone far yet but this statement alone already proved his innocence.
"When you were apprehended, you were found laughing and crying at the same time while muttering 'I killed them'. Can you explain why?" Andrew asked. This was a very important question to deny his original allegations in the first place.
"Because I told James to switch the secret keeper to Peter instead of me. I thought it would be too obvious so I chose to be a decoy. I felt that my choice got them killed so I blamed myself." Sirius replied. Still speaking in a very trance like state.
"Just to be clear, are you saying you were not the secret keeper?"
"I am not."
"Can you tell us what actually happened that night?"
"When I got to Godric's Hollow, I saw Hagrid holding on to young Harry. I tried to take him but Hagrid denied me". Said Sirius.
"Hold on, why would you let Hagrid deny you of the boy? As James best friend, would you not have more authority to take the boy?"
"I hardly think this is important, maybe we can skip--" Dumbledore tried.
"NO! This is important! Please answer Mr Black." Andrew said in a firm no nonsense voice.
"He said he was under Dumbledore's orders." Said Sirius.
"So our Chief Warlock decided to give orders to a half-giant keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts, who I must remind this body, is not allowed a wand or to do magic due to certain circumstances."
"Please take note of this statement as we will come back to this later." Andrew hinted.
Dumbledore felt a chill but he could not do anything for the time being but hope this would be forgotten.
"Mr Black, what happened afterwards?"
"I tried to go after the rat to make him pay."
"Who is this rat and why do you refer to him as so?" Andrew asked despite knowing the answer just to have this knowledge out.
"Peter Pettigrew. He's a rat animagus. I ran after him and he caught me off guard. He disarmed me, triggered an explosion via gas lines from a muggle home and cut off his own finger before transforming into his rat animagus form to escape." Sirius continued further. "I was laughing and crying because the weakest among us caught me off guard and I felt this could have been avoided if I had not chosen to switch secret keepers."
As the testimony was almost over, Andrew pulled a quick one.
"And who was the person who cast the Fidelius Charm?" He asked.
Before Dumbledore could say anything, Sirius had already answered.
"Albus Dumbledore."
"So you mean to say, Dumbledore knew you were not the secret keeper the whole time?" He aske quickly.
"Yes."
This broke into another commotion. This meant Dumbledore knew the whole time but did nothing.
"Please note once more, as we will be going back to this again later. Let the official record show that Albus Dumbledore knew the whole time but allowed Mr Black to be imprisoned for years." Said Andrew.
This statement was now bearing down on Dumbledore. There were more whispers considering their doubts on him.
After the antidote for the veritaserum was given, Sirius was allowed to step back as his part was now done.
"As you can see ladies and lords of Wizengamot, Mr Black is completely innocent of all accused crimes and was deliberately left rotting in Azkaban by Albus Dumbledore. For now I would like to put forth another case connected to this one."
Amelia had aurors bring in a stunned man in shackles. After he was brought to the stand, this earned gasps all around. The reporters in the audience were furiously noting everything down. There was so much happening in this session that they knew this was going to be big.
"The real culprit of the crimes accused of Mr Black. Peter Pettigrew. As he is still currently legally dead, we are technically able to question him under veritaserum forcefully."
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